


Dealing with Mindless Idiots

by Dunuelos



Series: Harry Potter, Lone Traveler [90]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 08:43:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20288662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunuelos/pseuds/Dunuelos
Summary: The Traveler arrives when Sisko and his crew find the downed Jem ha'dar ship. He points out the changeling.





	Dealing with Mindless Idiots

Harry looked around at the location he had appeared. He was a bit surprised to find that it looked like he was in a hilly area almost devoid of even plant life.

He turned around to look the other way and was surprised to see what looked like Starfleet personnel, some holding weapons even if they were pointed down. He only recognized one. He chuckled and called out, "Hello!" and gave a small wave.

* * *

Captain Benjamin Sisko muttered to his people, "Stand by but don't appear hostile." He then put on his diplomatic smile and called back, "Hello." He spoke quietly to Worf, "Contact the runabout and have them scan for where he transported from."

The man, appearing unarmed, walked toward the group and the downed ship even as Sisko moved to intercept him. Worf walked with him.

Sisko got within a few feet and stopped. "Can I help you?"

The man nodded with amusement. "Yes. My name is Harry Potter." He looked around. "Can you tell me where I am?"

Sisko looked over to Worf who looked as confused and incredulous as he felt. "I am Captain Benjamin Sisko. You are on Torga IV." With his most ingenuous tone he asked, "Where did you come from?"

The man laughed and said, "My last location or where do I originate? As far as where I just came from I was on a planet called Tatooine helping to repair a moisture collector for a couple and small boy who live on a moisture farm there."

Sisko didn't detect any falsehood but asked, "Where is Tatooine? I'm not familiar with that planet."

The man shrugged. "Likely not. Since I recognized your uniforms I assume this is the Milky Way. Tatooine is a planet that exists in a galaxy far, far away." The man paused. "You know? I never found out how far that is." The man looked at the platform and asked, "What's that about? An underground complex?"

Sisko looked back and said, "Not really. Considering this is a downed ship of possibly hostile Jem'Hadar and this is possibly hostile territory you'll have to excuse me but this is necessary." He turned to Worf. "What can you tell me about him?"

Worf said, "According to Ensign Hoya, there is no evidence of a transporter signal. Our instruments cannot get a read on him."

The man chuckled and said, "Try one more time."

Worf looked at his tricorder and said, "He now reads as human though there are anomalies – he's putting out an energy field that I am unfamiliar with."

The man said, "Yes. I was at one time human, from a subspecies called Homo Magicus. What you are reading is called Magic."

Sisko said, "At one time?"

The man nodded. "Now I am – something else. I am an interdimensional traveler – kind of like a universal fix-it man. As far as the magic, I can show you without being too offensive."

Sisko considered that. "Alright then. Show me."

The man suddenly had a stick in his hand and waved it. His eyes widened. "I read 7 life forms in the area other than myself: Four Human, one humanoid with a secondary life form in symbiosis with it, a Klingon, and somewhere below that metal area is a lifeform that appears to be ... liquid in a solid form but otherwise I don't know what it is. It appears to be injured."

Suddenly Sisko called out, "Mr Worf. Get me inside that ship. There is a wounded changling."

The man said, "You know I can get you to it pretty quick."

Sisko turned and asked, "How?"

The man shrugged. "I can go there myself or take someone with me. Though it might be better if I got you inside manually as I don't know what the environment inside is."

Sisko looked to Worf who said, "He is an unknown."

Sisko considered that. "But he's the one who found the changeling." He turned. "Mr. Potter. Your assistance would be appreciated."

The man nodded and quickly moved to the exposed area. O'Brien called out, "I think we have an access point."

Sisko called out, "Get it open."

Potter arrived just as the panel opened. He moved his stick again. "Okay. Follow me."

He quickly moved through the ship even as the rest of the Starfleet personnel checked the way for anything living even if they were told there was nothing. They stopped when they ran into dead bodies.

Jadzia Dax ran her tricorder. "These men didn't die in the crash – they've been dead for hours."

"What killed them?" the Captain asked.

"Massive osteonecrosis. Every bone in their bodies been shattered," she said with some revulsion.

O'Brien said matter-of-factly, "Sounds like intertial dampener failure. The ship accelerated and these people were thrown into the bulkheads. Nobody was alive when this ship hit the planet."

Potter nodded. "That sounds horrible. But maybe that's why this changeling you called it lived – it isn't solid enough. It still reads as hurt to my diagnostic spell."

Sisko said, "Lead the way."

Potter nodded. He lit a light from his stick even as he moved. Finally, he directed them to a solid-seeming part of the ship. "That's it. It seems to have put itself into a shape to keep itself together."

He turned to Dax. "Can we beam it out?"

Jadzia ran her tricorder. "No. There's too much interference from plasma residue."

Potter said, "Let me try something." Sisko nodded. Potter waved his wand (Ben decided that is what it most likely was if he called himself a magician) and created a medical stasis unit. He moved his wand once more and suddenly the solid seeming object moved through the air and landed in the unit. He sighed. "I'm going to have to have to force it back into its liquid form."

Sisko considered that. "Do it."

Potter nodded and waved his wand. The object turned into liquid and Potter shoved the lid down. He grabbed on. "Grab on – I'm taking this and us outside."

Sisko nodded and grabbed a handle. Worf reached down and did the same thing. Suddenly, they were outside.

"There you go." Potter stood up. "What are you going to do? I think you need to get it to its people or someone who could help. That statis unit will work for a while – but it needs healing."

Sisko considered it. The ship was of extreme importance – Starfleet would desperately like to get it he was sure. He made a decision. "Sisko to the Rubicon. Contact Deepspace 9 and tell them that we need the Defiant here immediately to tow a scuttled Jem'Hadar warship. Then put out an emergency call on Dominion frequencies that we have a Founder that was wounded in a ship malfunction and we have it in stasis until it can be retrieved."

Potter nodded. "You think the ship will be less important to them than the changeling."

Sisko nodded. "They consider them their gods. The Jem'Hadar are programmed to serve them as are the Vorta. They consider them their gods."

Potter shrugged. "I'm not familiar with either species." He did seem amused by something.

Sisko looked at the stasis pod and then asked, "Do you mind coming with me?"

Potter shrugged. "Certainly. I'm usually put in places to help keep things from blowing up. This seems like something that could cause problems."

Sisko sent a few orders to get the ship that was buried prepared for recovery. He then ordered the Rubicon to beam them aboard.

Potter chuckled when he appeared on the small ship. "That's a strange sensation. I was still human the last time I was transported by someone else. Usually, I just move myself."

Sisko turned to Ensign Hoya. "Report."

"The Defiant will be on its way very shortly to help bring back the ship. We haven't got a reply yet on the message sent on Dominion frequencies."

"Are there any other ships out there?"

Hoya pushed a few buttons as he said, "Scanning." After a moment he said, "I believe that there is another Jem'Hadar ship that is coming but the Rubicon's scanners aren't enough for more detail. Contact in 37 minutes."

Sisko considered that. He turned to Potter. "Will it make a difference if we save time to meet them or if we just wait here?"

Potter considered that. "In the short term? No. In the long term? Maybe. I don't know what their technology is. Maybe a few minutes will make a difference."

Sisko considered that. "I am going to err on the side of caution." He tapped his comm. badge. "Sisko to Dax."

"Yes, Captain?"

"Continue repair efforts. We're going to meet the ship that is almost here to ensure that the wounded changeling is returned that much more quickly. We'll be back in less than an hour. The Defiant is on its way to retrieve the downed ship."

"Understood, Captain."

Sisko tapped his badge. "Mr. Hoya. Set course to intercept the ship that you detected. Continue sending out the mayday."

"Yes, Sir."

He sat down next to his visitor. "Tell me about yourself, Mr. Potter."

The man chuckled. "You really don't have to give me the 'I don't trust you but I'm being diplomatic' smile. I am perfectly willing to tell you."

Sisko nodded ruefully and his expression became more natural.

Harry told him about himself. Sisko didn't fully buy it but accepted the explanation for what it was.

"Captain. Time to intercept is three minutes."

"Any response to our hails?"

"No, sir."

Potter's eyes narrowed. "Now that's just rude. I know they are ignoring you." He turned to Sisko. "Recommend getting right in front of them."

Sisko said with some humour, "They may just run us over."

Potter nodded resolutely. "They are mindless in their concern. Possibly just detonating a torpedo in their path, requiring them to take notice might work."

Sisko nodded. "Make it so. Fire a torpedo but ensure it detonates before they actually arrive."

"Yes, Sir." Hoya timed it so that it detonated 20 seconds before the warship would hit that area of space.

The Jem'Hadar dropped out of warp and fired directly at the runabout. There was no response. "What happened?" Sisko asked.

"There seems to be an energy field around us. It is originating …." Hoya turned and looked at their guest, "from _him_."

Sisko looked at his guest and then said, "Hail the Jem'Hadar ship."

Potter said, "Can I speak to them?"

Sisko considered it. "By all means."

"Message coming through."

An image came on the screen and Jem'Hadar Captain came on. "You are interfering with Dominion business. I was perfectly willing to ignore your presence but if you don't get out of our way we will destroy you."

Potter stood up. "Hey, Arsehole! We know what your business is. These fine people were doing a survey when your ship crashed in. It would do you some good to actually _listen_ so Captain Sisko can explain!" Potter turned to Sisko.

Sisko shook his head a moment. "I believe you are looking for your Founder. The crew of your warship was killed due to a malfunction in the intertial dampeners. Rather than wait until the Founder died so that we could claim the ship according to salvage laws, we brought the Founder in a stasis chamber, which we brought here so that you could return the Founder to his people for healing. Time is of the essence. If you destroy this ship, you will kill it along with us! Do you want to continue or are you willing for us to transport it over?"

The Jem'Hadar, who had looked almost sick when he heard the Founder was on the runabout, looked to the side. Suddenly a female Vorta was on the screen. "My apologies, Captain. The crew was ordered to ignore all distractions in order to retrieve our god. We will accept the transport." There was a pause. "Is there a reason why we cannot detect the Founder?"

Potter interjected. "Because I am the one who created the stasis unit – it is not something your technology can read." Potter appeared to be holding his temper only barely. "Understand this! These people, for this mission, are under _my_ protection. And I am a god of my own people." Sisko was startled by that statement. With that Potter was exuding a glow which reminded Sisko of the Orbs of the Prophets that he had seen.

Potter waved his hand and the stasis unit disappeared. "You will find the stasis unit on your ship, I believe. Now that it is on your ship I believe you can detect the Founder with your scanners. It will keep your Founder from deteriorating for another week. Don't open it until you are ready to perform medical procedures – I believe linking to another changeling will solve the medical issue. May I recommend that next time you actually pay attention before mindlessly acting?" Potter visibly calmed himself.

"So. They will claim the ship according to salvage rights. You will transport your god to his own people. And you will thank Captain Sisko for acting immediately in the effort to ensure you did not lose the life of your Founder for your lack of common sense!"

The Vorta was visibibly shaken. "Captain Sisko. You have our thanks. You may keep the ship as salvage and in thanks for your return of our god."

Sisko gave his diplomatic smile. "You are welcome, Councilor. You probably should be on your way."

The Vorta nodded and the signal cut off. The ship before them turned and then jumped away at high warp.

Ben looked to his visitor. "A god?" he asked incredulously.

Potter smirked and said, "Yes. A god." With that the light Potter was exuding winked out and the being winked at him. "I don't' know why I was sent to interfere – you most likely would have survived. I don't know. But take care."

With that, the visitor disappeared in blue light. There was music wafting throughout the cabin.

Sisko looked at the empty space and then turned to Ensign Hoya. "Well, Mr. Hoya, I believe it's time to return to Torga IV. I just have to figure out how to report this incident without looking like a madman."

* * *

Though they tried, the Jem'Hadar ship did not actually make it back in enough time to save the Founder – the Jem'Hadar crew immediately suicided. The Vorta did report all details of the incident to her superiors.

And though the others were who were saved were lost eventually, Miles O'Brien actually survived the encounter and would survive past the end of the Dominion War. In this world, he would have been among those lost in this skirmish.

**Author's Note:**

> For those confused by the chapter: In the Deep Space 9 series, in the episode The Ship (S5E02) there are several deaths but Miles isn't one of them. In my alternate dimension, he would have been – requiring outside influence. That was why Harry was sent there.


End file.
